CHICAGO (AP) The Latest on The World Series (all times local):
4:55 p.m.
Chicago manager Joe Maddon says it’s OK for Cubs fans to be nervous heading into Sunday night’s must-win game against the Indians.
”Please be nervous, absolutely,” Maddon said. ”You should be nervous. We have to win tonight. It’s up to us to get you beyond that moment. I do believe our Cubs fans, the one’s that I have spoken to, are really diggin’ on everything that’s happened. Please go ahead and be nervous.”
Maddon gave no thought to holding a team meeting with his club down 3-1 in the Series.
”I don’t believe in the speech thing working, I don’t,” Maddon said. ”I want us to play with emotion but without emotion. In other words, be involved in the moment.”
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4:15 p.m.
Cleveland’s 7-2 win over the Chicago Cubs was the most-watched World Series Game 4 in seven years.
Game 4 Saturday night drew a 9.3 rating, 18 share and 16.7 million viewers on Fox, the network said Sunday, up from a 7.8/5 and 13.6 million for Kansas City’s 5-3 win over the New York Mets last year. The last Game 4 with as many viewers had been when the New York Yankees’ 7-4 victory over Philadelphia in 2009 was seen by 22.8 million.
Game 4 averaged 212,000 for Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes and 88,000 for digital viewers on Fox Sports Go.
This year’s Series is averaging a 10.5/19 and 18.2 million viewers, the most for the first four games since 2009 averaged an 11.6/19 and 19.1 million.
The rating is the percentage of television homes tuned to a telecast and the share is the percentage viewing among those households with televisions on at the time.
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3:54 p.m.
Fans milling around Wrigley Field are writing chalk messages of encouragement for the Cubs on the walls outside the ballpark’s famed bleachers.
Chicago trails Cleveland 3-1 heading into Game 5 on Sunday night.
”WE NEVER QUIT,” BELIEVE,” and ”WIN FOR GRANDMA NORRIS,” are among the messages scrawled on the brick walls. Several fans stopped to take pictures or video of the scene with their phones.
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3:50 p.m.
Mike Napoli is back in Cleveland’s starting lineup for Game 5 and Carlos Santana is back in left field.
Manager Terry Francona sat Napoli in Game 4 as the Indians took a 3-1 lead in the World Series with a 7-2 win on Saturday night over the Chicago Cubs. He played Santana instead at first and the slugger responded by hitting a home run.
Santana started Game 3 in left – his first career start at the position – and played five innings before he was replaced. He caught the only fly ball hit to him on a gusty night in Wrigley Field.
Napoli, who had started Cleveland’s first 11 games of the postseason, pinch-hit in the eighth inning of Game 4 and flew out to the warning track in center.
With a chance for the Indians to win their first World Series title since 1948, Francona is going with the same lineup he used in Game 1 against Cubs left-hander Jon Lester. Rajai Davis is batting leadoff and playing center and Brandon Guyer is in right.
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After getting a pair of hits in Game 4, slumping Jason Heyward remained in the Chicago Cubs’ starting lineup for World Series Game 5.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon inserted catcher David Ross into Sunday’s lineup in place of Willson Contreras. The 39-year-old Ross, who is retiring, usually catches pitcher Jon Lester.
Heyward, in his first season with the Cubs after signing a $184 million, eight-year contract, was 2 for 31 (.033) with one RBI in the postseason before going 2 for 4 Saturday in Chicago’s 7-2 loss.
Center fielder Dexter Fowler led off, followed by third baseman Kris Bryant, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, left fielder Ben Zobrist, shortstop Addison Russell, Heyward in right field, second baseman Javier Baez, Ross and Lester.
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3:05 p.m.
A pair of World Series losses for the Chicago Cubs has led to a drop in the asking prices for Game 5.
About 4+ hours before the scheduled start of Sunday night’s game against Cleveland, asking prices on StubHub started at $748.
Before Game 3 at Wrigley Field on Friday, the lowest asking price was $1,019. The Indians led the Series 3-1, needing one win for their first title since 1948.
Atmosphere outside the century-old North Side ballpark also was dampened, with only a few people outside Murphy’s Bleachers rather than a lengthy line.
After a pair of relatively warm days, the temperature had dropped into the low 50s Sunday afternoon with a stiff wind.
The Cubs last won the Series in 1908.
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